Chipko Movement in India! The Chipko Movement was started in the northern Himalayan segment of Uttar Pradesh, the area that is well known as Uttarakhand. Chipko movement is a grassroot level movement, which started in response to the needs of the people of Uttarakhand.

The rate of heavy depletion of forests was resulting in destruction, arid- making the Himalayan mountain range barren.

Moreover, the construction of dams, factories and roads had already led to deforestation. Most of the leaders of the Chipko Movement were village women and men who strove to save their means of subsistence and their communities. Sunderlal Bahuguna, a renowned Gandhian, with a group of volunteers and women started the non-violent protest by clinging to the trees to save them from felling.

Brief History of Chipko Movement | Essay for Students and Children

The main objective of this movement was to ensure an ecological balance and the survival of the tribal people whose economic activities revolved around these forests. His appeal to Mrs Gandhi resulted in the green-felling ban.

The 5,km trans-Himalaya foot march in was crucial in spreading the Chipko message. Bahuguna coined the Chipko slogan: They coined the slogan: Ghanashyam Raturi, the Chipko poet, whose songs echo throughout the Himalayas of Uttar Pradesh and Indu Tikekar, a doctor of philosophy, whose spiritual discourses throughout India on the ancient Sanskrit scriptures and on comparative religion have stressed the unity and oneness of life, put the Chipko Movement in this context and there are other prominent leaders of the movement.

Chipko Movement in India (Useful Notes)

The first Chipko action took place spontaneously in April in the village of Mandal in the upper Alakananda valley, and over the next five years it spread too many districts of the Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh. This angered the villagers, because their demand to use wood for making agricultural tools had been denied earlier. The Uttarakhand region is a highly remote area due to its precipitous slopes, with thin and fragile soils.

The area is highly resourced with abundant water resources and forests. The extensive network of roads, which have been built after the Indo-Chinese border conflict, made accessibility to this region easier. As a result, the Uttarakhand region, which is known for rich minerals, soils, and forests, attracted many entrepreneurs.

Chipko Movement (Tree Hugging Movement)

Soon the area became the object of exploitation by these entrepreneurs. Some products for which the region was exploited were timber, limestone, magnesium, potassium, etc. The other reason for such conflicts was that the villagers were earlier denied the use of forests.

The streamlined policies did not allow the local agriculturists and herders to cut the trees for fuel wood or for fodder and for certain other purposes. Instead, they were told that dead trees and fallen branches would serve their needs. The agriculturists or herders could cut trees only for the construction of houses and for making implements.

Tribal Women in Chipko Movement Essay

The policies were reframed, claiming that the overuse and misuse of the forests was causing deforestation. Moreover, the timber and charcoal contractors conspired among themselves and blamed the local people for deforestation.

The first spark of the movement started in at Gopeshwar in Chamoli district when a local co-operative was not given permission to cut 12 ash trees for the purpose of building houses and for tool-making. Instead, the government sold the ash trees to a sports-goods manufacturing company for the purpose of making bats and tennis rackets.

The villagers appeal to the government went in vain. In protest, the villagers adopted a non-violent method and they stuck themselves to the trees to protect them from being felled.

The villagers were successful in their effort and the government cancelled the permit given to the sports-goods manufacturing company. Thus, started the Chipko Movement.

Chipko movement

Such other incidents have become successful and the movement soon spread to other areas. The Chipko activists formed into groups and campaigned from village to village and informed people about the purpose and importance of the movement.

It is now collecting funds to take up research on the issues of forests, soil, and water conservation.

The Chipko protests in Uttar Pradesh achieved a major victory in with a year ban on green felling in the Himalayan forests of that state by the order of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India.

Since then, the movement has spread to many states in the country. In addition to the 15 year ban in Uttar Pradesh, felling in the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas has been stopped. Thus, the Chipko Movement is an important environmental movement, which has gained considerable popularity and success by adopting a Gandhian non-violent method.

The movement paved the way for many such environmental movements in the country.